When four Governors from different parties, and three former officials of an agency warn that the decision being contemplated to allow for a new gas pipeline through the Pinelands is a mistake, why would the sitting commissioners and staff ignore their input?

The answer is fairly clear, the Pinelands Commission has been Gerrymandered by the Governor to allow one company, South Jersey Gas, to profit at the expense of everything else.

The issue is less about whether the pipeline is safe, that is, that it will leak, than it is the dangerous precedent that it sets for undoing four decades of protection for a globally recognized treasure; the New Jersey Pinelands. It is also about a dangerous trend that is rampant as of January 20 of this year about disregarding the facts for quick profits.

While I agree that natural gas is a better fuel than coal or oil and that a power plant conversion is beneficial to the goal of cleaner air, it is the adulteration of the process and the blatant disregard of all the facts that makes this power play so sad.

There is still a hope that this can be defeated, but a slim hope.

Read the full articles:
Former Pinelands officials declare opposition to pipeline project
PINELANDS COMMISSION PUSHES ON WITH SOUTH JERSEY NATURAL-GAS LINE
A conversation with former Gov. Jim Florio